Aseri Katanga is the Chairman of Computers 4 Africa’s Board of Trustees. Since 1999, he has been working to improve education in Tanzania.
Aseri was born in 1958 in Ishozi village near Lake Victoria in north western Tanzania. As his father was a teacher, he desired the best education for young Aseri. For that reason, Aseri was sent to the United Kingdom to study ‘A’ Levels at Dacorum College in Hemel Hempstead. He continued his studies in the UK obtaining a Higher National Diploma in Business Studies whilst studying at Newlands Park College in Buckinghamshire, and then completed a degree in Economics at Kingston University.
In 1987, Aseri started his career with B&Q Plc. Between then and 1999, Aseri advanced on to become a Business Accounts Manager. It was also during this time that Aseri began his own project to help those living in poor conditions in his village by sending IT equipment to the local village schools. Aseri’s employers were so taken by his compassion, that they donated their redundant computers to this project. B&Q suppliers soon followed by donating materials to construct the first purpose built IT training facility in Tanzania. By 2005 Aseri had helped to supply 26 schools in Tanzania with IT equipment. A year later he was honoured with the B&Q Hero Award and as a result was given a year off work with full pay in order to take his project to the next level.
During this year, Aseri’s aim was to open 24 more schools in Tanzania and to supply these schools with at least 1,200 redundant yet working computers. By the end of 2006, Aseri achieved his goal and more. One of Aseri’s most memorable moments that year was when Tweyambe Secondary School in Bukoba received 101 computers, making it the flagship school in the project and the best in rural Africa.
At Computers 4 Africa, Aseri is an inspiration to us all and we look forward to helping him fulfil his dream that one day all African children will have access to a PC and will be able to tell the difference between a ‘mouse’ and a ‘mouse’!
